When not working on my own art I spend a great deal of time out and about looking at other work.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Paul Nordlund

About 30 years ago I was with friends at a country auction in Sweden.One of the things they bought was a folio with four woodcuts on vellum.They were all similar to the one shown above.All four were portraits of well-dressed men in typical attire for the 1920’s.They gave me this one, which I misplaced years ago.It turned it up this week.

The artist was Paul Nordlund and is a bit of a mystery.He was active in the 1920’s and the only information I can find online was that he did woodcut, illustrations for some books at the time.The print I have is signed and dated in pencil.But considering the poor quality of the paper and lack of numbering, I am wondering if these were done solely for the purpose of being reproduced in print.

7 comments:

Paul Nordlund happens to be my grandmother's brother. He is from Sweden and also painted in Oil (I own a few). I also own a clay plate that uncle Paul sculpted of his father from memory once he became blind with old age. He also did nature scenes using the woodcut folio method -- i have a series of those as well. Uncle Paul is survived by his son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His son has published a book that contains some of the son's pencil sketches.

Paul Nordlund is my father's uncle and is certainly from Sweden. He also worked in other mediums such as oil paints, etc. I have a clay plate that he made when he became blind. The plate is of his father (my great grandfather). He did it totally from memory because his father had been dead for many years before he made it.

Thank you for adding a bit more information. Feel free to add in any more biographical details, etc. It would be nice to get the information up here so that when people search for Paul Nordlund in the future they'll be able to find some information.

This is Anders Nordlund, Paul,s grandson.Just adding som more info about my grandfather.While living in Dalarna, Sweden he mainly worked as a teacher but his sociallife was dedicated to the artistcommunion. He worked a lot with Frida Åslund,a writer of childrenbooks,by colorating her work. Fridas halfbrother, Helmer Åslund (later on Osslund when moving to the US)was a pretty famous painter and still sells for quite a number.The artistic string lives on in my father who made oilpaintings as well as touschedravings.He has also (to this day) produced 2 books.

Hey folks, Paul and Britta Nordlund were friends of my parents about 1945. Paul was my brother´s teatcher when my brother was 8 - 9 years old. They were our neigbours and very kind people. What a surprice to find Paul at internet! (My english is not good... but I try :-) Kindest regards/ Inga.

About Me

I am an artist living in San Francisco. I work primarily in mixed media, collage and landscape painting. My work has included maps, postcard-themed art and mail art projects. In 2013 I began a series called Collagescapes where I start painting paper with areas of color representing the palette of a specific place. Next I cut the paper into hundreds of small pieces, randomize the pieces and then reassemble them in various geometric patterns. Collagescapes are both landscape paintings and collages. They appear abstract but retain the color palette of the places they represent.
My new series is Time Travel Photos — handmade photo collages showing places in San Francisco where I have cut and sliced present-day photographs and interwoven photos of nature representing how the City looked before Europeans arrived. Each is an image of an urban space with the natural past emerging through. For example, creeks once again run through the Mission and dunes reappear in Golden Gate Park and tidal flats fill the Embarcadero.
My work has shown in over 40 venues, primarily in California but also in other locations in the United States and abroad. My artwork can be viewed at tofuart.com